Jam tomorrow from Biotech

d by the end of this year. As a replacement for chemotherapy, this could have implications for treating one of the scourges of the modern world. Another compound which could show results this year is lexipafant, a treatment for acute pancreatitis.

But all these drugs merely hold out the prospect of jam tomorrow. Until there is more to go on, there is little to justify the current market capitalisation of pounds 240m, apart from a rapidly dwindling cash pile which was worth pounds 42m at the year end. Highly speculative.